oco-2 data service

OVERVIEW

The CO2 Virtual Science Data Environment consolidates various carbon dioxide (CO2) data products from separate Earth orbiting CO2 observatories into a single web service. Prior to this web portal, studying the carbon dioxide content of our atmosphere, along with CO2 sources and sinks, required scientists to scour the web for distributed data sources. The challenge for many scientists is that of uncertainty, particularly regarding which portal will provide the “right” CO2 data for their research, as well as the frustration that comes with trying to read through documentation of the CO2 data product. With the approaching launch of the OCO-2 mission (Orbiting Carbon Observatory - 2, launched July 2, 2014), members of the OCO-2 mission collaborated with the Human Interfaces Group to develop a web experience which localized credible CO2 data products into one location.

MY ROLE:

Cultivated working relationship with external user community:It was clear through the first round of user interviews that the design team needed to engage with a set of users outside of JPL not initially represented in first design iterations of the website.

Conducted and lead the user research effort for the website: I ran in person interviews with users, designed light weight paper prototypes, and tested light weight prototypes with the user community.

Led the User experience design direction: I iterated and usability tested working user experience concepts for retrieving data from respective orbiters.

Produced final visual design: I created the visual design and brand of thefront end.

PROBLEM SPACE:

USER RESEARCH:

User research research included extensive interviews and contextual inquiries focused on the current processes of acquiring carbon dioxide (CO2) data from the web with the available researchers on lab at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Within the first week of research, it became apparent that the main user who would rely on this web service for their CO2 data were actually external researchers and graduate students.

FINDINGS FROM USER COMMUNITY:

RESULTS OF INITIAL USER RESEARCH:

This was a diagram I created to help our stakeholders on the mission see the diverse needs of their potential user community.For the first launch, we focused on the users in the P and NP group.

SKETCHES

The initial interviews with the user community for the new website revealed a greater need for guiding users through the available data products, and providing intuitive features for customization of data. The ideation phase involved extensive sketching and generation of lite weight paper prototypes to help further understand the capabilities our users needed.

LIGHT WEIGHT PAPER PROTOTYPES:

User feedback shaping designBelow is an example of the sort of feedback we received from users: